Black Los Angeles started small. The first census of the newly formed Los Angeles County in 1850 recorded only 12 Americans of African descent alongside a population of more than 3,500 Anglo Americans. Over the following 70 years, however, the African American founding families of Los Angeles forged a vibrant community within the increasingly segregatedand stratified city. In this book, historian Marne L. Campbell examines the intersections of race, class, and gender to produce a social history of community formation and cultural expression in Los Angeles.